Father... We are hungry!

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Part of The Nation

Title: Father... We are hungry!
Language: English
Year: 1945
Rights
Fulltext: Father ... We are hungry I By OSCAR de ZUNIGA IT. WAS already nQontime. Tasio still lingered around the Tutuban Station where he had gone early in the morning to buy ;rice. But ueither rice sellers nor the gang of boys who used to bore holes through .rice sacks at the depot had been around since his arrival. ' He pa~sed for a. while: should back into his pocket. he go home or not? But his wife; A whistle sounded: the oneand his two children. He couldn't thirty trah1. Eagerlf, Tasio stood go home emptyhanded, .for there up, and joined the crown which was not a single grain of rice at rushed to 'meet the new arrivals. .home. Surely somebody in the train had f>e],"baps if he stayed a little lon- some rice for sale. Not a few gei; a, rice seller might come his bring rice to the city and not for way. Besides, there was a train home consumption, either. scheduled to al'l'i\re at one-thirty. "Rice?" Any rice for sale " be Tasio selectelt a shaded spot on kept on asking. But the answer the side'"walk and·'sat down, Were was'invariably the same: "None." his legs tired! lie stretch~ them It did not take long the station out for a while, then encircled to be cleared of people. "This them with his arnis. There were must have been a red-day for rice many people coming a,ud .. going, and ve~dors," he muttered bitterly to. he co~ld not have bis l~ out- himself, as he kicked an unsus~ stretched for long without some- pecting pebble on the road. body stepping on them. He sat 'down • on the sidewalk Closely, he watched the .faces of' again. Was the world whirling? people. .:Borne .. seemed hurrying He wiped bis forehead with his home for lunch; others, merely none-too-clean handkerchief. Cold walking leisurely as if on an after-: beads of sweaf were beginJiirlg to noon stroll. __ Their faces interested form. His stomach murmured in him. ·was the hungry look visible angry protest when lie bent foron the faces of eome of them as ward to press his face against his clearly defined on his own? He knees in an effort to drive away rubbed bis face with the palm 'Of the dizzy spell trying t~ get the a hand, as if to erase from it better of him. traces of any such a look. Slowly, Tasio stood up, ,and "Perhaps, · they .are also looking walked towards the Chinese store for rice," he told himself. Not a opposite the station.· The food disfew were carrying ' ba,gs or played on the counter did not look bayo11gs. The thought recalled very appetizing, but what wouldn't him to his, mission, and he thrust a hungry man give for them. his hand -ibto his . pocket to . make What food could he buy with one sure that _be had not lost his peso? he asked the Chinaman. money. Carefully, he fished it out Only one plate of rice, was the and coun,ted-for the nth time- polite reply. six ten-peso bills. Eno11gh for Well, it was something, he three ga,ntas of rice, at twenty thought, and was about to · order pesos per. the rice. But then, what about hiS With more care, he put the roll wife and children? . Could he This is ·an entry In the OBSERVER - NATION Story contest. swall'OW the food, knowing that his folk at home had nothing to eat? If he spent the peso, his money would not be sufficient for the three gantas of rice that he had in mind to buy. Wearily, he turned away. A drink of cool water J.rom the. street faucet could appease his hunger anyway. . He espied a cigaret butt, its smoke curling up invitingly. Unhesitatingly he picked it up, Three long puffs were all he got out of it, but he felt sufficiently strength~ned to continue his vigil for a rice seller. The heat w;as getting. oppress\ve, so Tasio retreated once more under the shade. The wait was long an.d weary: still he -sat . under the shade. . For how long, be did not how. Late in the afternoon, he noted some people rushing to a spot in front of the station where there was a commotion. There was a fight going on, somebody shouted. Tasio stood up. Curiosity made him join the crowd, and soon he was among th~ ·elbowing into the thickness to get a better view of the combat. · Those around him kept joStling and pushing, till he felt himself being squeezed in on all sides~ Then Tasio beard somebody shouting, "Police! police!" And the crowd di.Spersed as speedtly as it had formed. Once more, Tasio looked around in search of rice, .inquiring 'from some bystanders where he could secure .some. But nobody could The NATION give him any idea as to where rice although he was sure he had not was available, and finally dis- put it away in any other than in heart~ned, he decided to go home. the right side pocket of bis pants. With head bowe'd, he turned to "Sorry: mist-er," the boys said, a sideSstreet which was a shorter when they noted that their cusroute to· take him home. He had tomer had. J.ost his money. gone bttt a- !'hort distance when he Tasio eyed the group ruefully came upon a gang of boys each as they walked away. carrying a bayong. "Rice " he saked alight with hope. eagerly, his "Yes, sir," the leader replied. "Want to buy some?" • "How much a ganta?" "Fifteen pesos." How could he have lost his money? He looked up, as if to inquire from the clouds, which was fast gathering. Then he remembered that he had joined the crowd during the fight. Yes; that wa:s it. Somebody must have picked his pocket when he was hemmed in from all sides. Set Quota For Flmir. lnrporu Local flour importers ha•e · recommendel to the · association of U. S. export flour millers a minimum of 4,000 short tons of wheat flour monthly, representing the tonnage that can be handled efficiently by Philippine ports under present conditions. De la Paz Scores One On Com· Congressman Emilio de la Paz, who is under investigation by the Committee on Interior Government of the House of Representatives won a respite on the first day of the investigation by challenging the right of he Chairman nf he Committee to sit on the same and, And wit hthe thought of his for that matter, to have a seat in loss, of the hungry mouths wait- Congr.ess. De Ia Paz claimed that "You can't find any cheaper," ing for him, he felt like crying. Congressman de los Santos Comb l d . 1. d h dl Slowly, he walked on, unmindful mittee Chairman, was appointed to "That's too much,'' Tasio said, although within him, he felt elated that it was cheaper than he had anticipated. t e ea er rep ie s re!' y. of the rain which bad started to the bench by Ptesident Quezon and "All right, give me four gantas." f 11 bl d . , a , in . to th~ lightning flashes, acted . accordingly as Judge of The bpys told him they d bar- deaf. to the peal of tll.under. All Jt'irst Instance of Iloilo. The Consrow a ganta from the nerby house, that-he seemed to see was the re- 1 titution' provides that no member and Tasio followed them. The rice 1>roachful look in his wife's eyes; of Congress may occupy any other . measured exactly four gantas and all that he could hear,· his child- position in the Commonwealth about two handfuls. ren's voices crying.. . "Father, Government without forfeiting his "You can have it all for sixg we fire hungry!". seat in the Legislature. pesos," the leader of the boys told him. "Tl\anks,'' Tasio said, as he dipped his hand into his pocket to get his money, thankful tQO that he had not spent a single centavo. But his . pocket was emptytl COLEGIO DE- SANTA CATALINA UND_ER DOMINICAN SISTERS Elementary and High Scl'IOOI Reopening: July 2, 1945 Enrollment: StlH going an 8801 Leprda, Sampaloc He looked in his ~ther pockets, The Arellano Colleges 598 L~garda. and 411 G. Tuazon (Authorized by the Government) Registration NOw Going On e Arellano Law e Business Adm. e· Education e Elementary FRANCISCO R. CAPISTRANO ,. PresUJ.e.nt and Dean of Law and Am and $cience FORTUNATO A. CUPIT Comptroller and Dean of B'l4iness Ad~ Classes Belin July 2 e Arts & Sciences e Normal e High School MARCELINO P. ESTACIO Registrar and Acting Deon, N~l and EaucJ-tion JACINTO 8. GALIMBA Principal, High. Sclwol (The Arellano Colleges, organized by the Arellano Law College1 Inc., which oper:i.ted the Natioul University from 1939 to 1941, will become The- Arellano University.) JULY. 1945